What You Inherit When You Buy a DA Approved Site
Development Finance
Conditions of consent · Development contributions · Site acquisition
A DA can save planning time and reduce one layer of uncertainty, but it can also carry unpaid contributions, unpriced conditions, separate utility requirements and plan-use issues. The value is not the approval alone; it is what remains after you price everything needed to use it.
Quick Answer
When you buy a DA-approved site, you are not buying a guarantee that the project is ready to build, profitable or fully funded. Treat the approval, post-consent certificates or building permits, unsatisfied conditions, current contributions, utility requirements, expiry status and rights to use the approved plans as one due-diligence package. Before exchange, establish what is approved, what is still required before work can start, what has been paid, what remains open and which costs fall due before construction finance can draw.
Also called: development consent (New South Wales), development approval (Queensland), planning permit (Victoria). This guide covers the conditions, contributions and servicing obligations that can sit behind an approved development site.
| Where you are | What you are actually asking | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Looking at a site, no offer made | Is the DA actually worth paying a premium for, or has somebody else already discovered the scheme does not stack up | Is the DA worth more? |
| The agent says “DA approved” | What exactly transfers with the land, and is the approval still in force | What you inherit |
| The agent says “ready to build” | What certificates, building approvals, engineering, utility work or pre-start conditions still sit between the DA and construction | Is it actually ready to build? |
| You want to build the vendor's approved design | Do I actually have the right to use the architect's plans and consultant material after settlement | Rights to use the plans |
| Due diligence is running | What is still unpaid or unpriced, and is the old dollar figure still current | Find the real outstanding cost |
| Contract terms are being negotiated | What must the vendor produce, warrant, adjust or hand over before I become unconditional | What to require before exchange |
| Finance is being sized | Can a contribution or open condition create a funding gap before the first construction draw | How a lender reads the schedule |
| A condition makes the scheme uneconomic | Can it be changed, offset, deferred or otherwise dealt with rather than blindly complied with | Changing a condition |
| Already exchanged or settled, a bill arrives | What should I verify before I pay, and what options may still be open | After exchange or settlement |
| Selling an approved site | How do I stop unknown conditions becoming a buyer discount or a finance delay | If you are the seller |
What do you actually inherit when you buy an approved site?
You generally buy the land with the benefit of the existing planning approval and the burden of any unsatisfied obligations that continue to attach to it. The exact legal mechanism differs by jurisdiction and by the instrument involved, so the buyer question is not “did the vendor create this obligation?” but “does this approval, charge, agreement or title recording still affect the land I am buying?”
Queensland is unusually explicit. Section 73 of the Planning Act 2016 (Qld) says that while a development approval is in effect it attaches to the premises and binds the owner, successors in title and occupiers. In Pike v Tighe [2018] HCA 9, the High Court confirmed under Queensland's predecessor legislation that an unsatisfied approval condition could continue to bind a successor in title. Other states use their own consent and permit frameworks, so have your property lawyer confirm the effect of the particular approval you are buying rather than relying on a national one-line rule.
A sale also does not make an old approval new. The approval may run with the land and still be close to expiry, require evidence of commencement, or need an extension or amendment. Confirm the approval is still in force and ask for the evidence that supports that position before you price a DA premium. If the approval has lapsed or is being amended, that is a separate funding and planning problem covered in the guide to a lapsed or amended DA.
The practical consequence is simple: the conditions schedule is not background paperwork. It is a list of cash payments, works, documents, timing gates and continuing obligations that can sit between settlement and the certificate you need next. Nothing has to be hidden for a buyer to be caught by this; the approval can be genuine and valuable while the remaining obligations are still missing from the purchase feasibility.
What the words mean, and which ones mean something else
Three states use different names for the planning instrument, older consents still use superseded contribution terminology, and several charges that affect an approved site are created outside the planning approval itself. Separating those concepts makes the rest of the due diligence much easier.
| Term | What it means | Where you meet it, or what it is not |
|---|---|---|
| Conditions of consent | The schedule of obligations attached to the approval, which transfers with the land and binds successors in title | In the notice of determination, not in the contract of sale |
| Development contribution | A monetary contribution or levy imposed by a condition of consent toward public amenities, public services and infrastructure | Set by a contributions plan, not by the consent, so the plan is where the amount actually lives |
| Infrastructure charges notice | The Queensland notice stating the charge levied against a development approval, how it was worked out and when it becomes payable | Issued with the approval, and frequently absent from the vendor's pack |
| New customer contribution | The one off charge a water corporation levies when a new connection is made to its water or sewerage network, also called a developer charge | Levied by the water authority, not the council. The consent may refer to a servicing certificate, but the current charge and detailed requirements must be obtained from the utility |
| Growth areas infrastructure contribution | A one off Victorian charge on land in designated Melbourne growth areas, triggered by the first of four events | Attached to the land itself, not to any approval, so it can fire with no approval in existence |
| Development consent, development approval, planning permit | The same instrument for the purposes of this page, named differently in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria | Not three different things, and a Victorian searcher looking for permit conditions is on the right page |
| Section 94 contribution | The former name for what is now a section 7.11 contribution in New South Wales | Still the term used on older consents and in older commentary, so an old consent may not say 7.11 anywhere |
| Conditions of approval, foreign investment | The conditions the Commonwealth attaches to a foreign investment approval, such as build out timeframes on vacant residential land | A completely separate approval from the planning one. Searching for approval conditions on Australian land returns a great deal of this. It is not what this page is about |
| Development application | The application, not the approval | A site advertised as DA approved has a determination, not an application on foot. A search for approved sites for sale is a listings question, and this page starts after you have found the site |
Is a DA-approved site worth paying more for?
Sometimes, but a DA only justifies a premium if the approved scheme is still in force, commercially usable, financeable and cheaper to complete than the alternatives. Approval removes part of the planning uncertainty; it does not prove the project is profitable, buildable at today's cost or ready for a lender to fund.
Before you pay for the word approved, rebuild the feasibility from zero using the approved yield and today's inputs. Check the current construction budget, every contribution and utility charge, every open condition, access and servicing assumptions, the approval's commencement or expiry position, and whether you can actually use the approved drawings and consultant material. A site can have a valid approval and still be worth less than an unapproved alternative if the approved scheme is expensive, awkward or no longer suits the market.
There is no automatic lender or valuer uplift just because a site has a DA. We did not locate a published Australian rule or defensible national percentage for the value added by approval. The useful question is what this particular land is worth with this particular approved scheme after today's remaining costs and risks are allowed for. If the purchase price only works because you expect the lender's valuation to recognise the vendor's DA premium, treat that valuation assumption as a due-diligence issue rather than a funding surprise after exchange.
A DA premium may be real when
- The approval is current and the approved yield still suits the market
- Major conditions and external servicing works have already been priced
- The planning work saves meaningful time without forcing an uneconomic design
- The approved plans, reports and licences can actually be used by the buyer
The premium can disappear when
- Old contribution figures have indexed materially since consent
- Conditions require work nobody has scoped or costed
- Utility upgrades or off-site works sit outside the council contribution figure
- The approval is close to expiry, needs amendment or carries a design you would not build
The fastest test is to split the conditions into payments and unpriced work
A direct payment produces a number you can verify. A condition requiring work, a report, land dedication, remediation, access, drainage or a certificate produces a cost that must be scoped by whoever would do the work. The second category is usually more dangerous to a buyer because it can sit outside every spreadsheet until late in due diligence.
Conditions that are a payment
- Development contributions and levies imposed by a condition of consent
- Infrastructure charges levied under a charges notice
- State or regional contributions payable in addition to the council layer
- Bonds and security lodged against completion of works
- Monetary obligations under a planning agreement
Conditions that are a cost without a number
- Works to be constructed and handed over to the authority
- Studies, plans and reports to be produced and approved
- Matters to be satisfied before a certificate can issue
- Landscaping, remediation and offset obligations
- Staging and sequencing requirements that dictate the order of works
If the DA premium survives that exercise, you are paying for a real reduction in planning risk. If it does not, the approval is a feature of the listing rather than a reason to stretch the purchase price. The detailed cost rebuild sits in what lenders test in a development feasibility.
Does DA approved mean the site is actually ready to build?
No. Development approval answers the planning question, but it does not by itself prove that construction can start immediately. Post-consent certificates or building permits, detailed engineering, pre-commencement conditions, utility requirements, contributions, certifier appointments and other approvals can still sit between the DA and the first day of work.
“Ready to build” is sales shorthand, not a due-diligence conclusion. The phrase only becomes useful when you can identify the next approval or certificate, prove every prior-to-start condition has been dealt with or costed, confirm the detailed engineering and utility position, and show how the costs before first draw are funded.
| Jurisdiction | What planning approval does not replace | Buyer check before calling it ready to build |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | NSW Planning says development consent does not mean building work can start. A Construction Certificate is required for building work, together with the principal certifier, notice before work and completion of prior-to-start conditions. | Ask for the Construction Certificate status, detailed plans and engineering, principal certifier position, pre-commencement condition evidence and any contributions or bonds required before the certificate or work. |
| Queensland | Business Queensland states that a building development approval or building permit is needed before construction starts on most domestic building work. Depending on the development, separate operational works or other approvals can also be required. | Identify which building work, operational works, civil, plumbing, drainage or other approvals remain and what the decision notice requires before site or building work begins. |
| Victoria | Building Victoria treats planning and building permits as separate approvals. Building work cannot begin until the required building permit is issued, and where a planning permit is required it must come first. | Confirm the planning permit is current, the endorsed plans match what will be built, the building permit pathway is clear, and permit conditions, authority requirements and detailed construction documentation have been priced. |
What should “ready to build” mean in your own due diligence?
For a buyer, it should mean more than an approval number. You should be able to produce the current approval and all amendments, identify the next construction or building approval, list every pre-start condition, show the detailed civil and engineering work still required, obtain current utility requirements and contributions, and identify the documents your builder, certifier, quantity surveyor and lender still need. Anything missing belongs in the price, the contract, the programme or the funding plan before you go unconditional.
Which conditions carry money, and which carry work?
Conditions divide into two kinds, and only one of them shows up as a number anywhere. A condition that is a direct payment produces an amount you can put in a spreadsheet. A condition that is an obligation to build, produce or satisfy something produces a cost that nobody has calculated, which is why it is the kind that surprises people.
Conditions that are a payment
- Development contributions and levies imposed by a condition of consent
- Infrastructure charges levied under a charges notice
- State or regional contributions payable in addition to the council layer
- Bonds and security lodged against completion of works
- Monetary obligations under a planning agreement
Conditions that are a cost without a number
- Works to be constructed and handed over to the authority
- Studies, plans and reports to be produced and approved
- Matters to be satisfied before a certificate can issue
- Landscaping, remediation and offset obligations
- Staging and sequencing requirements that dictate order of works
The left column is findable. You can ask the authority what is outstanding and get an answer with a dollar sign in it. The right column has to be scoped by whoever would actually do the work, and until that happens it is a hole in the feasibility rather than a line in it. This is the distinction the rest of this page runs on. Every later reference to a cost that cannot be sized points back to the right hand column, and it is the same distinction a credit assessor draws when reading a schedule for the first time.
How do development contributions work in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria?
In the New South Wales regions where the housing and productivity contribution applies, a state contribution can sit alongside the local council contribution; Queensland uses infrastructure charges notices under its statutory framework; and Victoria can combine local contribution-plan obligations with GAIC on affected Melbourne growth-area land. A buyer needs to know which structure applies before working out what is outstanding, because the document you have to chase is different in each one.
In New South Wales the local layer is a council contribution under section 7.11 or a levy under section 7.12. In the Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Illawarra-Shoalhaven and Lower Hunter or Greater Newcastle regions covered by the current scheme, the state housing and productivity contribution can apply separately. The New South Wales Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure states that the housing and productivity contribution is separate from the section 7.11 or 7.12 contributions that developers pay to councils for local infrastructure, such as local roads, drainage, and local open space. Queensland runs infrastructure charges through a charges notice given with the approval. Victoria runs development contributions plans, and in Melbourne growth areas the growth areas infrastructure contribution as well, plus a metropolitan planning levy on larger permit applications.
| What you are checking | New South Wales | Queensland | Victoria |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local layer | Council contribution under s 7.11 or levy under s 7.12, set by a contributions plan | Infrastructure charges levied by the local government | Development contributions plan, where the council has one |
| State or regional layer | Housing and productivity contribution, separate from the council layer | No separate state contribution of the same kind | Growth areas infrastructure contribution in the designated growth areas |
| Water and sewer layer | Sydney Water or the relevant water utility, via the section 73 compliance certificate | The water business, whether a distributor retailer or the council | The water corporation's new customer contribution, plus Melbourne Water drainage contributions |
| Where the amount appears | In the condition of consent, by reference to the contributions plan | In the infrastructure charges notice given with the approval | In the permit conditions, and for GAIC on the certificate from the revenue office |
| What binds a new owner | The condition, because the consent runs with the land | The levied charge, which attaches to the premises | The permit conditions, and for GAIC a recording on the title |
| Does the figure move before payment | Yes, indexed as the contributions plan specifies | Yes, where the charges resolution includes an automatic increase provision | Yes, GAIC rates rise annually with the consumer price index |
| Trigger for payment | Certificate linked, set by the condition or the planning order | Set by statute for each type of development | For GAIC, the first of four events including transfer of land |
| Offsets available | Works in kind, planning agreements, exemption or discount certificate | Offsets and refunds where the notice provides for them | Work in kind agreement, staged payment, deferral |
| What to check before exchange | Contributions plan, condition wording, payment evidence | The charges notice itself, not just the approval | The GAIC certificate and the title |
This table covers New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria only. South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory run their own arrangements and are out of scope here rather than absent by oversight. Every period, rate and trigger on this page is a statutory default or a published rate, and is displaced by the terms of your own consent, approval, permit or charges notice. Nothing here is legal, planning or tax advice.
One recent change matters for New South Wales buyers holding older consents. On 1 July 2026 the Western Sydney Growth Areas and Western Sydney Aerotropolis special infrastructure contributions transitioned into the housing and productivity contribution scheme through an amendment to the ministerial order, according to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure page updated 1 July 2026. The department states that transitional arrangements recognise previous special infrastructure contribution payments so that duplicate infrastructure charges are avoided, that existing payments including works in kind may be recognised through adjustment mechanisms, and that credits may be converted under specified arrangements. If you are buying a consent granted in those areas before that date, the credit position is a document question rather than a settled one, and it is worth asking about specifically.
What water and sewer costs can sit outside the council contribution figure?
Water and sewer obligations need a separate utility check because the council contribution figure does not tell you the current servicing charge or the works the utility may require. A consent can refer to a servicing certificate or authority requirement, but that reference is not a substitute for the utility's current notice, advice or requirements for the approved development.
Every state runs a version of the same structure: the servicing authority will not commit to servicing the development, and will not issue the certificate the project depends on, until its charges are paid and its works are done or secured. In New South Wales, Sydney Water states in its land development guide that requirements must be met before it will issue a section 73 compliance certificate, and that those requirements may include paying charges and constructing or protecting works. In Western Australia the Water Corporation puts it even more plainly, stating that payment of infrastructure contributions is the landowner's responsibility and that it will only commit to meeting water, wastewater and drainage needs once the relevant contributions have been paid.
| State | What the charge is called | What it is tied to |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Developer service plan charges, levied by Sydney Water or the relevant water utility | The section 73 compliance certificate. A notice of requirements issues on application, setting out the works and payments required before the certificate can be given |
| Victoria | New customer contribution, also called a developer charge, levied by the retail water corporation. Melbourne Water separately levies drainage contributions for waterway, water quality and drainage works | Connection to the water or sewerage network. Charges are either standard, which the Essential Services Commission regulates, or negotiated site by site, which it does not |
| Queensland | Connection and infrastructure charges levied by the water business, which in South East Queensland is a distributor retailer and elsewhere is the council | Connection to the network, separate from the council's own infrastructure charges notice. Confirm the name, the amount and the trigger with the relevant water business, because they differ |
| Western Australia | Infrastructure contributions, charged for water, wastewater and drainage, with special developer infrastructure contributions in some declared areas on top | Both the subdividing stage and the building stage. Drainage contributions apply only in urban declared drainage areas in the Perth metropolitan area |
Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory each run an equivalent charge through their own water authority under a different name again. The practical rule is the same: identify the servicing authority for the land and ask it directly. The planning approval and council contribution calculation do not speak for the utility's current network requirements. Your town planner or civil engineer will know which body to write to.
Why is the number on a three year old consent not what you pay?
Because contribution amounts are indexed between the day the condition is imposed and the day the contribution is paid, so the figure printed on the consent is a record of a past quarter rather than a price. A buyer who lifts that figure into a feasibility has understated the cost, and nobody had to do anything wrong for that to happen.
In New South Wales the mechanism sits in the regulation rather than in the condition. The Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (NSW), section 207, headed Indexation of monetary development contribution, requires that the cost of providing public amenities and public services must be indexed quarterly or annually, as specified in the relevant contributions plan, in accordance with movements in the Consumer Price Index. For a section 7.12 levy, section 208(5) provides that the proposed cost may be adjusted before payment of the development levy, as specified in a contributions plan, to reflect quarterly or annual variations to readily accessible index figures adopted by the plan, between the day the proposed cost was determined and the day by which the levy must be paid. The state layer moves on a different clock again: the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure states that housing and productivity contribution rates are indexed quarterly using the Producer Price Index for Road and Bridge Construction in New South Wales.
Queensland handles the same problem differently, and the difference matters when reading a charges notice. Under the Planning Act 2016 (Qld), section 114, a charges resolution may include an automatic increase provision that provides for automatic increases in levied charges from when they are levied to when they are paid, and any such increase is capped at the lesser of the gap to the maximum adopted charge at the date of payment and an increase worked out using the producer price index adjusted by the three yearly average. It is not automatic in every case. It applies where the local government's charges resolution provides for it, and section 121(1)(e) requires the infrastructure charges notice to state that the charge is subject to automatic increases and how those increases are worked out. That single line on the notice is the one to read before you accept a number.
How do you find out what is actually outstanding on a site?
Six checks, made from current source documents rather than taken on the vendor's word, turn the approval into a costed position you can use in a feasibility. Some authority enquiries are free, formal certificates and searches can carry fees, and professional scoping is paid work. The important point is that each check is cheaper and more useful before exchange than after settlement.
| Step | What you ask for | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1. A current planning or property certificate/search | The relevant planning/property certificate or equivalent official search for the land, ordered fresh where available rather than relying only on an older contract copy | What is formally recorded against the land. In New South Wales the department has required planning certificates to be updated so that landowners and purchasers are made aware a housing and productivity contribution may be payable |
| 2. The current figure, not the consent figure | The consent authority's contributions officer, for the amount as it stands today under the relevant contributions plan | The indexed amount, which is the only figure worth putting in a spreadsheet |
| 3. The charges notice, where the state issues one | The infrastructure charges notice itself, together with any recorded offset or refund | What was levied, how it was worked out, when it is payable, and whether an automatic increase provision applies |
| 4. The state revenue certificate, where the land is in a designated area | The relevant certificate from the state revenue office, ordered directly | Whether a liability, a deferral or a completed payment already sits against the land |
| 5. The servicing authority's requirements | The water corporation's servicing advice or notice of requirements for the development | The current charge and works that the council contribution figure does not tell you |
| 6. A scope and cost for every open condition | A scope and a price from the engineer, planner or contractor who would actually do the work | The only number a credit team will accept for a condition that requires work rather than payment |
The order matters more than it looks. Find out what has already been paid before you pay anything, because in at least one live case paying first permanently closes a concession that would otherwise still be available. That trap is set out in the credits and offsets section. Most of these enquiries can be started as soon as the site is serious enough to diligence. The commercial advantage is not speed for its own sake; it is discovering an unpriceable item while the price and contract are still negotiable.
How much do developer contributions cost per lot in Australia?
There is no single national average that is safe to drop into a development feasibility. In our search we did not locate an Australian government-published national average for developer contributions per lot or per dwelling. Councils and authorities do publish rates and calculations for specific contribution plans and schemes, and those site-specific figures are the numbers that matter.
We went looking for one specifically. The bodies searched were the Productivity Commission, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the state planning departments, Housing Australia, the Urban Development Institute of Australia and the Housing Industry Association. What came back was submissions made to inquiries, research papers, and industry estimates prepared to support a position in a policy debate. The Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes building approvals and land and housing supply indicators, and neither series carries a contributions figure. Widely repeated national averages can come from inquiry submissions, research papers or industry estimates, so check who produced the number and whether it applies to your council, development type and payment date.
| Where we looked | What it publishes | Whether it answers the question |
|---|---|---|
| Productivity Commission | Inquiry reports and the submissions made to them, including on housing supply | No. The per lot figures appear inside submissions from industry parties, not in the Commission's own findings |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | Building approvals, and land and housing supply indicators | No. Neither series contains a contributions amount |
| State planning departments | The rates for their own state schemes, and the contributions plans councils adopt | Partly, and this is the useful part. A specific council's contributions plan is authoritative for that council and that development type |
| Housing Australia and academic housing research | Research papers on how contributions are levied and who bears them | No published national per lot statistic. Check the authorship of any research paper before treating a figure in it as a government number |
| Industry bodies | Submissions to inquiries containing estimates and averages | No. These are advocacy documents, and a figure hosted on a government website because it was lodged as a submission is still an industry estimate |
What this means when someone gives you a number. For a purchase decision, separate site-specific authority figures from broader averages. A current amount calculated under the applicable plan or scheme can be checked and put into the feasibility. A national or market average may be useful context, but it is not a substitute for the authority's current figure for the site. That is why the previous section starts with a fresh calculation rather than a benchmark.
When do contributions and charges actually fall due?
Payment triggers are certificate linked, not settlement linked, and they are not the same across the three states. That single fact is what turns a contributions question into a finance question, because it puts a cash requirement into the stretch between settlement and the first construction drawdown, which is the stretch a feasibility usually treats as quiet.
| Contribution or charge | When it becomes payable | Where the trigger is set |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales council contribution or levy | As stated in the condition, commonly before the construction certificate or subdivision certificate, whichever comes first | The condition of consent, read with the contributions plan |
| New South Wales housing and productivity contribution, residential subdivision | Before the issue of the first subdivision certificate | Department guide to the ministerial planning order |
| New South Wales housing and productivity contribution, other development | Generally before the issue of the first construction certificate, or before work authorised by the consent commences | Department guide to the ministerial planning order |
| New South Wales water servicing charge | Before the section 73 compliance certificate can be issued, as set out in the notice of requirements | Sydney Water land development guide |
| Western Australian water infrastructure contribution | At subdividing stage, and again at building stage, before the authority commits to servicing | Water Corporation infrastructure contributions |
| Queensland charge for reconfiguring a lot | When the local government approves the plan of reconfiguration required to be given to it for approval | Planning Act 2016 (Qld) s 122 |
| Queensland charge for building work | When the final inspection certificate, or the certificate of occupancy, is given under the Building Act | Planning Act 2016 (Qld) s 122 |
| Queensland charge for a material change of use | When the change happens | Planning Act 2016 (Qld) s 122 |
| Queensland charge for other development | On the day stated in the infrastructure charges notice under which the charge is levied | Planning Act 2016 (Qld) s 122 |
| Victorian growth areas infrastructure contribution | In full within three months of the GAIC event, unless a deferral, staged arrangement or work in kind agreement is approved | State Revenue Office Victoria, page updated 1 July 2026 |
Read down the middle column and the finance point becomes obvious. None of these triggers is settlement. Several of them arrive before a construction facility has drawn its first dollar, which means the money has to come from somewhere other than the build loan. That is the same window covered in pre construction development finance on a site with a DA, and it is worth mapping before you exchange rather than after.
Where the housing and productivity contribution applies, it is paid through the NSW Planning Portal using a Planning Portal account, which is worth setting up before the trigger arrives rather than on the day. The triggers above are statutory or published defaults and are displaced by the terms of your own consent, permit or charges notice. Read the condition, not the summary.
Do you pay GAIC just for settling on a Melbourne growth area site?
Yes, you can. A buyer of land in a Melbourne growth area can incur a substantial statutory charge by settling, with no approval and no construction involved at all. This is the exception that breaks the frame of the rest of this page. Everywhere else the money is attached to the approval. The growth areas infrastructure contribution is attached to the land, and one of its trigger events is the transfer itself.
The State Revenue Office Victoria states that GAIC applies when the first of four events occurs, and lists transfer of land, being a change of ownership in a transaction attracting land transfer duty, as one of them, alongside subdivision, a building permit application above the threshold, and a significant acquisition. It states that the person who owns the land when a GAIC event occurs is usually liable, and that if the land is sold or transferred the new owner is liable. It also states that affected land carries a GAIC recording on its title until the contribution is fully paid, and that where payment is deferred the liability remains attached to the land and becomes payable when the next GAIC event occurs, even if ownership changes. Both statements were read on the page updated 1 July 2026.
Take those two facts together and the trap is visible. A deferral arranged by a previous owner does not leave with that owner. It sits on the title, it accrues interest at a published rate while it sits there, and it becomes payable at the next event, which may be your event. GAIC is only payable once for the land, so a contribution genuinely paid earlier is genuinely finished, but the difference between paid and deferred is the whole question, and it is not one to take on trust. The revenue office publishes a worked example of the scale involved: twelve hectares of type A land, where the first GAIC event is a transfer of that land, produces a contribution of $1,467,120.
The revenue office issues GAIC certificates showing the GAIC status of the land and whether any liability exists, and it issues them at no charge. On a page full of things that cost money to find out, that is the cheapest piece of due diligence available, and it is the one most often left until after exchange.
What happens when conditions have not been satisfied?
An unsatisfied condition becomes your obligation on the day you take the land, and it sits between you and the certificate you need until somebody does the work. A condition that has been satisfied is closed. A condition that has not been satisfied is open, and open is a different asset.
Deferred commencement conditions are the extreme version of this, where the consent does not operate at all until stated matters are satisfied to the authority's satisfaction. The mechanics of deferred commencement, lapsing and physical commencement belong to the guide on a lapsed or amended DA and refinancing the site and are not repeated here. What matters on this page is narrower and, for a buyer, sharper: what an unsatisfied condition does to the funding requirement.
A cost that cannot be sized is worse for a credit assessment than a cost that is large. A large known number can be funded, staged, or negotiated into the price. A condition requiring works nobody has costed cannot be put into a facility, because nothing in the file tells a credit team what the number is, and no credit team will invent one. The practical answer is not to argue the point. It is to get the condition scoped and costed by the consultant or contractor who would actually do the work, before the approval goes into a feasibility as though it were finished.
Can a condition be changed rather than complied with?
Often, yes, but the pathway and legal test depend on the jurisdiction, the approval and the scale of the change. New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland all have mechanisms to change an existing approval, but they are not one national process and they do not all use the same statutory test.
| Jurisdiction | The route | The limit |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | A modification application under section 4.55 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, with pathways ranging from correcting a minor error through to a full modification. Section 4.56 applies where the consent was granted by the Land and Environment Court | The development as modified must be substantially the same development, which the courts have long expressed as alteration without radical transformation. A change beyond that is a fresh development application, however it is presented |
| Victoria | An amendment under section 72 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987. Planning Victoria says an application to amend a permit follows the permit-application process, while secondary consent may be available where a permit condition allows it; section 69 deals with extending time | The amendment process can involve notification and referral, and the amended permit replaces the original. The existing expiry date does not reset merely because the permit is amended |
| Queensland | A change application under the Planning Act 2016, made to the responsible entity | The scale of the change determines the process, and a substantial change is assessed accordingly rather than waved through |
One New South Wales detail is worth knowing because it is recent and rarely mentioned to buyers. The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure's practice note on modifications under section 4.55, dated March 2026, describes a deemed non-refusal framework at section 4.55A: on an application under section 4.55(1), the consent authority must determine the application within the period prescribed by the regulations, being 14 days after lodgement, and if it does not, it must determine the application as soon as practicable afterwards and must not refuse it.
What a modification is not is a way out of a contribution. Contributions follow what you build, so changing the yield changes the levy in both directions: fewer dwellings usually means a smaller contribution and also less revenue. And the choice between modifying and lodging fresh is a commercial decision before it is a legal one, because a fresh application reopens the whole scheme to assessment under whatever planning controls apply at that time rather than the ones that applied when the original consent was granted. Both calls belong with a town planner, early, and before the approval goes into a feasibility as though its conditions were fixed.
What credits and offsets can reduce what you owe?
Works in kind agreements, planning agreements, credits from earlier contributions on the same land, and in New South Wales an exemption or discount certificate can each reduce what you owe. Every one of them turns on a document you have to see rather than be told about, which is why this side of the ledger is routinely ignored.
| Mechanism | What it can do | What has to be checked |
|---|---|---|
| Works in kind agreement | Delivers infrastructure or land instead of a cash contribution, in whole or in part | Whether it is executed, what it covers, and whether a balance is still payable in cash |
| Planning agreement | Substitutes negotiated obligations for part of the standard contribution | The agreement itself, its schedules, and which obligations remain outstanding |
| New South Wales exemption or discount certificate | Exempts or discounts the housing and productivity contribution for eligible development | That the contribution has not already been paid, and that the timing window is still open |
| New South Wales transitional recognition of earlier special contributions | Recognises special infrastructure contribution payments made before the 1 July 2026 transition, including works in kind, so the same infrastructure is not charged twice | What was paid or delivered under the old scheme, and whether any credit has been converted under the specified arrangements |
| Credits from earlier contributions | Recognises contributions already made on the same land under a contributions plan | Payment evidence and how the plan treats credits on subsequent development |
| Queensland offsets and refunds | Offsets or refunds trunk infrastructure delivered by the applicant against the levied charge | Whether the charges notice records an offset or refund, and on what conditions |
| Victorian work in kind, staging or deferral | Provides land or works, or spreads or defers a GAIC liability, by approval | Whether any approval is in place, and whether a deferred amount now sits on the title accruing interest |
One of these carries a date, and it is written for nobody. The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure states that it cannot issue an exemption or discount certificate, or a refund, if the housing and productivity contribution has already been paid, that a certificate can only be issued before 1 July 2029, and that the amendment order made in 2026 extends the certificate provisions to eligible development consents for housing and productivity contribution development granted before 1 July 2026. Read on the page updated 1 July 2026. That is a use it or lose it position with a deadline attached, it reaches consents granted before the transition, and almost everything published about it is written for developers rather than for buyers taking those consents on.
The practical instruction is short. Ask what has been paid before you ask what is owed, because paying first can close a door that would otherwise still be open, and the person who pays it is usually the new owner acting sensibly and quickly.
What if you have already exchanged or settled?
If a contribution, condition or utility requirement surfaces after exchange or settlement, work from the current legal and payment position rather than assuming the seller or buyer automatically carries it. The instrument, payment trigger and contract matter, and some concessions or certificates can depend on what has already been paid.
Do not pay blindly. Urgently confirm the current figure, the statutory due date, who is liable under the relevant instrument, and whether any concession or certificate has to be dealt with before payment. In New South Wales, for example, an eligible housing and productivity contribution exemption or discount certificate cannot be issued after the contribution has already been paid. Do not miss a due date while checking the position; this is a property-law and planning question first, then a funding question if the amount is yours to meet. After that: request the payment history and any planning agreement or works in kind agreement on the land, order the state certificate in your own name so you can see whether a deferral is sitting there accruing interest, and get any condition requiring work scoped and priced so the funding requirement can be sized before the certificate stage arrives rather than at it.
Still worth doing after settlement
- Confirm the current indexed figure with the authority, in writing
- Check whether a concession is still available before paying anything
- Request the payment history and any agreement on the land
- Order the state certificate in your own name and read the title
- Scope and cost every condition that requires work
- Ask a town planner whether the condition itself is changeable
What settlement has already closed
- A price adjustment for what the schedule contains
- The vendor's practical incentive to produce documents
- The option to walk away from an unpriceable condition
- Any concession that requires the contribution to be unpaid
- The cheapest version of every check on this page
What you cannot do is argue a condition down because it was a surprise. The routes that exist are planning routes, set out in the section on changing a condition, and they are matters for a town planner and a property lawyer rather than a broker. What a broker can help with is the part that is genuinely a finance problem, which is a statutory amount falling due in the window between settlement and first drawdown. That window is the subject of pre construction development finance on a site with a DA, and the sequencing of it is in how development finance works.
What does an unsatisfied condition do to the valuation and the loan?
We did not locate a published Australian rule that tells every valuer or lender how an unsatisfied condition or unpaid contribution must affect a development-site valuation. We searched for a position from a valuation body, published lender policy or regulator and did not find a general rule on point. That means the answer turns on the individual valuation instruction, the facts of the site and the lender's credit policy rather than a national formula.
So the honest answer is that it turns on the individual valuation instruction and the individual lender's credit policy rather than on any published rule. What can be said from mechanism, rather than from a source, is this. A development site is usually valued on assumptions about what it costs to get from where the site is now to what the approval permits. An unsized condition is an unsized assumption sitting inside that calculation. That makes it a valuation problem before it is a credit problem, and it is why the scoping exercise in step six of the earlier section is not administrative housekeeping. It is the input the valuation depends on.
The related question, whether an unpaid statutory amount ranks ahead of a mortgage, depends on how that particular charge is created and it differs between states and between instruments. Two things are knowable and worth acting on rather than arguing about. In Victoria a GAIC liability is recorded on the title until it is paid, so it is a matter of record that a buyer and a lender can both see. In Queensland a levied charge attaches to the premises. Beyond those, the priority question belongs with your property lawyer, and we could not locate a published Australian source that answers it in general terms.
How does a lender read a conditions schedule?
From the credit side, contributions are a funding requirement with a date on it, not a cost line in a table. That reframing is most of the difference between a file that works and a file that stalls. A cost line sits in the total development cost and gets funded across the facility. A funding requirement with a date has to be satisfied on that date, and if the date falls before the first construction drawdown, the facility as drawn does not answer it.
What a credit team looks at first is not the size of the contribution. It is whether the schedule contains anything that cannot be sized, whether the amounts quoted are current or historical, and whether the timing of each obligation has been mapped against the funding programme rather than assumed. A schedule with three large but known payments on stated dates is a workable file. A schedule with two modest payments and one open condition is the harder one, and the reasons are set out above.
What happens between settlement and the first construction draw?
The final fan-out run repeatedly joined DA-approved site acquisition with construction certificates or building permits, quantity-surveyor review, valuation and first-draw conditions. That is the commercial gap buyers often miss: the land can settle before the construction facility is ready to fund every post-consent cost.
| Stage | What may still have to happen | Why it matters for cash and equity |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Acquisition settles | The land or acquisition facility settles and holding costs begin | Owning the approved site does not itself make construction debt drawable. Interest, rates and other holding costs start while the next approvals and funding conditions are completed. |
| 2. Post-consent work | Construction Certificate or building permit, detailed engineering, certifier steps, utility requirements, contributions, bonds and pre-start conditions | Some of these costs can be due before the first construction draw, so they need cash, equity or another agreed funding source rather than an assumption that the future facility will reimburse them immediately. |
| 3. Construction package is fixed | Builder contract, detailed cost plan, programme, consultants and final approved construction documentation | If the final cost is higher than the acquisition feasibility allowed, the extra amount can increase the equity requirement before the lender releases construction funds. |
| 4. Valuation and quantity-surveyor review | The lender tests the land and approved scheme, end value, costs, contingency, works completed and cost to complete | A lower valuation or higher verified cost can change leverage and create a shortfall even though the planning approval itself has not changed. |
| 5. Conditions precedent are cleared | The lender's required approvals, reports, insurances, contracts, equity contribution and other pre-draw items are satisfied | Until those conditions are met, a committed facility may still not be drawable. Map every approval-linked cash obligation against the actual draw sequence. |
From our broking, indicative
Five things come up often enough on approved site files to be worth naming, and they are observations about how files arrive rather than figures about how deals price.
- The conditions schedule is rarely in the first pack. Contract, title and stamped plans arrive. The full schedule, and the evidence of what has actually been paid and satisfied, usually do not.
- What is unpaid is a funding requirement with a date, not a cost line. It lands in the gap between settlement and first drawdown, which a feasibility tends to model as quiet.
- The unscoped condition is worse than the expensive one. A large known number can be funded. A condition requiring works nobody has costed cannot be sized, and credit will not size it for you.
- The servicing authority is the layer people forget. A file can carry every council figure correctly and still be missing a charge from a body that was never in the conversation.
- The cheapest hour on the file is the one spent getting the state certificate and the payment history before exchange, not after.
General information from broking experience. Not financial, legal, planning or tax advice. Not an offer, an approval, or a likelihood of approval. Every consent carries its own conditions and a broker cannot read yours. Speak to a town planner and a property lawyer.
How the funding itself is structured across acquisition and construction is a separate question with its own answer, in development finance and in the guide to how property development finance works in Australia. What a private funder looks for when reading an approved site file is covered in the red flags and green flags in an approved site file.
Can you actually use the approved plans after settlement?
Do not assume the planning approval and the right to use every drawing or consultant document are the same asset. The approval may run with the land while copyright and contractual licence rights in architectural plans, engineering drawings and other consultant material sit under separate agreements.
The Australian Institute of Architects explains that architectural designs, drawings and plans are automatically protected by copyright and that the creator commonly owns the copyright unless the contract changes that position. IP Australia similarly notes that IP created by a contractor is generally the contractor's property unless the contract says otherwise. A buyer should therefore ask what licence or assignment the vendor actually has and whether it can be transferred or relied on after the sale.
This matters most when the DA is the reason you are paying a premium. If the development can only be built economically by using the endorsed design, the right to use and adapt the plans is part of the commercial due diligence. The same question can arise with engineering, geotechnical, acoustic, contamination, traffic and other reports where the buyer or a later lender may need permission or a reliance letter rather than just a PDF copy.
What will your solicitor be looking at in the contract?
The contract is where an unsatisfied condition becomes a price rather than a surprise, and there are four mechanisms in play regardless of which state you are buying in. Naming them is not the same as drafting them, and the drafting is your solicitor's work, not a broker's and not a template's.
The first is a special condition requiring the vendor to produce the full conditions schedule and the evidence of payment before the contract becomes unconditional, so that a failure to produce is a contractual event rather than a shrug. The second is a vendor warranty about what has been satisfied and what has been paid. The third is a price adjustment, which works where an amount is known. The fourth is an amount retained at settlement, which is the tool for an amount that is not yet known but will be.
One thing to watch when you go reading about this. Most published Australian material on special conditions is written for Victoria, because of the vendor statement culture there, so a buyer in another state reading generic advice may be reading Victorian practice without realising it. Ask your own solicitor what the equivalent is in your jurisdiction rather than assuming the clause travels.
What none of the four can fix is a condition requiring work that nobody has costed. A retention needs a number to hold back, and a warranty about an unsized obligation is a warranty about nothing. That is an engineering scope before it is a contract clause, which is why the money-versus-work distinction sits early on this page rather than late.
What should you independently verify before going unconditional on a DA-approved site?
Do not rely on the selling agent's information memorandum or the vendor's “DA pack” as the final answer. Before you go unconditional, independently verify that the approval is current, you have the latest approved plans and amendments, the post-consent path is clear, the remaining obligations and current money are known, and the documents and rights needed to build and finance the scheme will be available after settlement.
| Document or evidence | What it answers | If it cannot be produced |
|---|---|---|
| Notice of determination with the complete conditions schedule | What was approved and which obligations attach to the approval | Do not price the site as a known approved scheme until the complete approval is available |
| Approved or endorsed plans plus evidence of the approval's current status | What design was actually approved, whether amendments exist, and whether commencement, expiry or extension needs to be checked | Verify the approval directly with the authority and treat any lapse or amendment issue as a separate due-diligence item |
| Post-consent certificate, building-permit and pre-start status | What approval or certificate is still required before work can start and which conditions must be completed first | Do not accept “ready to build” as a substitute. Identify the next certificate or permit, the certifier or surveyor position, and every prior-to-start requirement |
| Detailed civil, engineering and operational-works position | Whether drainage, roads, earthworks, retaining, structural, service or other detailed approvals and designs are complete enough to price and build | Have the relevant engineer, planner, certifier or builder scope what remains. An approved concept with unresolved detailed works is still an unpriced feasibility assumption |
| Infrastructure charges notice, where the jurisdiction issues one | What was levied, how it was calculated, when it is payable and whether an increase mechanism applies | Request the notice or current position from the relevant local authority |
| Evidence of payments and conditions already satisfied | What is genuinely closed rather than assumed to be closed | Assume the item remains open until the authority or supporting evidence proves otherwise |
| Planning agreements, works-in-kind agreements and their schedules | Whether an obligation has been discharged another way and whether a balance or continuing obligation remains | Ask the authority and your property lawyer whether an agreement is registered, recorded or otherwise binds the land |
| Relevant title, planning/property and state revenue certificates or searches | Whether a liability, deferral, restriction or recording already sits against the land | Order current searches yourself where available rather than relying only on the vendor's older copy |
| Water and sewer servicing advice or notice of requirements | The utility's current charges, network works and certificate requirements that the council contribution figure does not answer | Apply to the relevant utility or servicing authority before the finance and construction programme assumes the cost is known |
| Architect and consultant appointments, licences, assignments and reliance rights | Whether you can use and amend the approved plans and whether key reports can be relied on by you, your builder or your lender | Have your lawyer resolve the licence, assignment or reliance position before you pay a premium for material you may not be able to use |
Do not make the vendor pack the end of the exercise. Current certificates, authority figures and utility requirements should be checked close to exchange because old documents prove what the position was, not necessarily what it is now. If an item cannot be produced, that is due-diligence information: it should change the price, the contract, the timetable or the decision to proceed rather than survive as an open assumption.
Which risks need a contractual answer rather than another search?
The drafting belongs with your property lawyer, but the commercial issues should be identified before the clause is written. Ask how the contract should deal with evidence about the approval and amendments, unpaid or newly indexed liabilities, adjustments or retentions, delivery of consultant files, assignment or licensing of plans, reliance rights, planning agreements and any representation that the site is “ready to build”. A contract mechanism can allocate a known risk; it cannot make an unscoped engineering problem become a known number.
If the approval status, payment history, plan rights or next construction approval cannot be verified before exchange, the contract question is whether you have enough time, access and rights to verify it before becoming unconditional and what happens if the answer is different from what was represented. That is a legal drafting question, but the commercial trigger should be identified during due diligence rather than after settlement.
The wider site acquisition work, including title, contamination, access, easements, physical constraints and construction feasibility, sits outside this guide and should run in parallel. This page owns the obligations created by, or sitting behind, the existing approval. The rest of the reading list sits in the guides library, the construction hub and the property lending hub.
What if you are the one selling a site with conditions outstanding?
Do not assume a sale transfers every unresolved liability cleanly to the buyer. Statutory liability can depend on the particular contribution, trigger and jurisdiction, while the contract can separately allocate the economic cost between seller and buyer. What is certain commercially is that an unresolved obligation follows the deal into due diligence: a buyer who cannot price it will price the uncertainty instead.
That is the whole seller-side argument for doing this work before you go to market rather than fielding it question by question during due diligence. Produce the notice of determination and the full conditions schedule, get the current indexed figure yourself so the number in the room is accurate rather than contested, obtain the state certificate, request the servicing authority's position, and have any condition that requires work scoped and priced by the consultant who would do it. The difference between a priced obligation and an unknown one is the difference between a negotiation and a price reduction.
Two things are worth knowing before you assume something is invisible. A deferred amount recorded against the title travels with the land, and a buyer who orders their own certificate will find it. And an unsatisfied condition that has sat open for years is not neutral information: it reads to a buyer's lender as an unsized cost, which is the specific thing that stalls a funding approval and therefore a settlement.
A DA-approved site is not a finished piece of due diligence. The buyer has to price the approval as it exists today: current contributions, open conditions, utility requirements, expiry or commencement status, plan-use rights, and the timing of every obligation against the acquisition and construction funding programme. The approval can still be valuable, but the value is the planning risk it removes minus the obligations and constraints you still have to carry.
Key takeaway: before exchange, prove the approval is usable, prove what has been paid, price every open condition, get the utility position, confirm your rights to use the plans, and make the contract deal with whatever remains uncertain.Frequently Asked Questions
Often, yes, but the legal mechanism differs by jurisdiction and by the particular approval or obligation. Queensland is explicit: while a development approval is in effect, section 73 of the Planning Act 2016 says it attaches to the premises and binds the owner, successors in title and occupiers. Pike v Tighe confirmed under Queensland's predecessor legislation that an unsatisfied approval condition could continue to bind a successor in title. Planning Victoria also states that a planning permit runs with the land. For any purchase, have your property lawyer confirm which approval conditions, charges, agreements or title recordings continue to affect the land rather than assuming the seller's obligations disappear at settlement.
There is not one Australia-wide answer. The legal liability can depend on the jurisdiction, the particular contribution or charge, its payment trigger and whether anything has already been deferred or paid, while the contract can separately allocate the economic cost between seller and buyer. In practice, an unpaid amount that becomes due after settlement can become a buyer funding problem unless the contract deals with it. Confirm the instrument and the contract before exchange rather than assuming the seller or buyer always pays.
Usually not. Contribution amounts move between the day the condition is imposed and the day the contribution is paid, so the dollar figure printed on an older consent is a snapshot rather than a price. In New South Wales the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 requires the cost of providing public amenities and public services to be indexed quarterly or annually, as specified in the relevant contributions plan, in accordance with movements in the Consumer Price Index. Take the current figure from the authority, not from the consent.
Use current authority evidence, not just the vendor pack. Get the complete approval and conditions schedule, a current planning/property certificate or equivalent search where available, the current contribution calculation, any infrastructure charges notice, relevant state revenue or title certificate, the utility servicing requirements, and a scope and cost for every condition that requires work. Some searches and certificates carry fees, and professional scoping is paid work, but the purpose is to replace assumptions with current numbers before exchange.
There is no single national average that is safe to use for a site feasibility. We searched the Productivity Commission, Australian Bureau of Statistics, state planning departments, Housing Australia, the Urban Development Institute of Australia and the Housing Industry Association and did not locate a government-published national per-lot or per-dwelling average. Councils and authorities do publish rates for specific plans and schemes, so the authoritative number for a purchase decision is the current figure calculated for the actual site and development.
Contributions are usually certificate linked rather than settlement linked, so they fall due somewhere between settlement and the start of construction. In New South Wales the housing and productivity contribution is generally payable before the issue of the first subdivision certificate for residential subdivision, or before the issue of the first construction certificate for other development. In Queensland a levied charge becomes payable at the trigger the Planning Act sets for that type of development. That window is exactly the stretch a feasibility tends to model as quiet. That gap between settlement and first drawdown is the subject of pre construction development finance on a site with a DA.
Do not assume the council contribution figure includes the utility position. A development consent may refer to a water or sewer certificate or authority requirement, but the current servicing charge, network works and detailed requirements are obtained from the relevant utility or servicing authority. Check that authority separately before the feasibility treats water and sewer as a known cost.
You can. The growth areas infrastructure contribution applies on the first of four events and transfer of land is one of them, so a purchase can trigger it with no approval and no construction involved. The State Revenue Office states that the person who owns the land when a GAIC event occurs is usually liable, and that if the land is sold or transferred the new owner is liable. GAIC certificates showing the status of the land are issued at no charge, which makes this the cheapest check on the whole file.
No. Development approval answers the planning question, but further steps can still be required before construction starts. In New South Wales a Construction Certificate is generally required before building work under a development consent can commence, together with the principal certifier and relevant pre-start requirements. In Victoria, planning and building permits are separate approvals and building work cannot begin until the required building permit is issued. In Queensland, building work and operational works can require separate approvals. Verify the post-consent pathway, pre-commencement conditions, engineering, utility requirements and current charges before treating a listing as construction ready.
No. A sale does not by itself renew an approval or reset its existing commencement or expiry requirements. The approval may run with the land while still being close to expiry or dependent on evidence that it was lawfully commenced. Check the actual approval, amendments, extensions and commencement evidence before exchange. The rules differ by jurisdiction; a lapsed or amended approval needs its own planning and finance assessment.
Often, yes, but the pathway and legal test differ by jurisdiction and by the scale of the change. In New South Wales, section 4.55 provides modification pathways and the development as modified must satisfy the applicable substantially-the-same test. In Victoria, section 72 provides an amendment process and secondary consent may be available where a permit condition allows it. In Queensland, the Planning Act provides change processes whose requirements depend on the nature of the change. A modification is not automatically a way to remove a contribution or other obligation, so model the commercial effect of the changed scheme as well as the planning pathway.
Sometimes. A DA can justify a premium when it removes meaningful planning time and uncertainty and the approved scheme is still current, buildable and commercially sound. It does not prove profitability. Re-run the feasibility using current construction costs, contributions, utility requirements and every open condition, and confirm the approval status and plan-use rights before paying more simply because the listing says DA approved.
Urgently confirm the current amount, the statutory due date, the payment history, who is liable under the relevant instrument, and whether any concession or certificate has to be dealt with before payment. In New South Wales, for example, an eligible housing and productivity contribution exemption or discount certificate cannot be issued after the contribution has already been paid. Do not miss a due date while checking the position. Ask your property lawyer or planner to confirm the legal position, then deal with any resulting funding gap.
Do not assume the planning approval automatically gives you every copyright or contractual right needed to use the drawings. Ask for the architect and consultant appointments, any copyright assignment or licence, and any reliance rights needed for reports. Have your property lawyer confirm that the rights the vendor holds can be transferred or used by you before you pay a premium for an approved design you intend to build.
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